ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Inside Allentown’s Change on Hamilton, a relaxed Santa says this in front of a tropical scene:<\/p>\n
“One of the best times of the year besides Christmas because we get to say, ho, ho, ho, Merry Christmas in July,” Santa bellowed.<\/p>\n
A Santa in shorts and Hawaiian shirt, joined by Buddy the Elf, posed for pictures, part celebration, part invitation into a recovery center, where asking for help can be difficult.<\/p>\n
“I lost my house. I lost my kids. Thank God and these people, I’m getting close to get them back, and it’s a help for me,”\u00a0said Maribel Rivera, who is about to have her 10th child.<\/p>\n
She is an example of what this Christmas in July event can give. This as she posed for pics with her youngest son, husband and Santa.<\/p>\n
“How much better do you feel today, just about your life, compared to when you know when you first got out of jail?” 69 News reporter Bo Koltnow asked her.<\/p>\n
“Oh Amazing. I feel amazing. I feel alive,” she beamed.<\/p>\n
Program director Keith Smith, who showed us the center’s stash of donated clothes for clients, says their Christmas in July offers a relaxed outreach, setting a foundation for help.<\/p>\n
“Providing that atmosphere where they feel welcomed, not judged, and relatable, it makes it easier for people to ask for help, or for the family member or the other person to refer them, say, ‘Hey, I went to this place, Change on Hamilton,'” Smith said.<\/p>\n
While this event is tailored for kids, it can have a very adult payoff, especially for Rivera, who credits the center with saving her life.<\/p>\n
“Don’t be afraid to ask for help because always have somebody for you,” she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Inside Allentown’s Change on Hamilton, a relaxed Santa says this in front of a tropical…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":251457,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[214,232,153,155,154],"class_list":["post-251456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-_homepage_top_stories","tag-allentown-area","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=251456"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251456\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/251457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}